What Is a UPC Label?

A UPC label is an authentic bar code found on products from food to clothing. These labels speed up the checkout process in stores and provide a system for keeping track of each item for the manufacturer and vendor.

Function

A UPC, or Universal Product Code, is a label placed on outside packaging to identify an item's characteristics, such as cost and inventory. Each unique code corresponds to only that specific item. Manufacturers use different UPCs for each of their products.

Features

Every UPC label is made up of two parts. The most recognizable part is the symbol with the vertical bars. This allows a machine or scanner with a laser beam to read the code. The other part is a unique set of digits for humans to read and use for manually identifying that item. The number code is made up of two sets of numbers. The first set of digits is the type of product code and manufacturer ID number. The second set is the unique item ID number and a check digit.

Size

The formal size of a UPC label is 1.469 inches wide by 1.02 inches high. The minimum recommended size is 80 percent; the maximum recommended size is 200 percent of the formal size. The larger UPC labels are easier for the scanners to read than the smaller labels.

Benefits

According to Lasco Fittings, a scanner can decode the labels up to 500 times a second, making the checkout process easier and faster for the customer and vendor. If a scanner is broken or the bars are unreadable, a person can still manually enter the number code into the computer to find the same item.

Fun Fact

The bars on the label represent each digit in the code. The quantity and size of the bars are based on the binary computer language of zeros and ones.